Ablative Charming
Ablativa Tiberia Dulce, stylicised Ablative Charming [she/her] is the daughter of a prince charming. She once thought she would be destined to take the role of a generic prince charming, but learnt otherwise; she is meant to be the next Emperor Lucius Tiberius in Arthurian Legend. From youth, she had played prince and yearned to be one among them, and even though she has been assigned a villainous role, she still regards herself as a hero at heart. Fuelled by her own egoism and self-image, Ablative is determined to be glorious and ardent to go down in epic history. Character Personality Ablative Charming is a name that all the minor prince charmings know of. She was one of them, and shone out among all other minor prince charmings by being a) competent at everything hexpected of them, and b) being spelltacular at the things valued by prince charmings. With really sweet biceps and an air of untouchable confidence, she was the coolest of the uncool. Egoistic, sure, but she was adaptable, an all-rounder, with good grades and good at sports and good at socialising and yes, damsels would swoon, so why wouldn't she be egoistic? There was no reason for her to be humble, was there? Ablative, too, presented herself well. Her armour was always delicately shone, and when she speaks, she would never mumble, and projects her voice so that you know that her natural cadences are practised and brilliant rhetoric. And the reason why she was so good at many things? The same reason why some people get to Carnegie Hall, the same reason why one can roll a rock up a mountain endlessly. She is not so much ablation as she is perspiration. Sometimes, oftentimes, perhaps all the time, Ablative Charming does not aspire to do things simply out of interest for the things. Ablative Charming does things for one major reason. She wants to prove herself worthy. Worthy of what? Something, surely. Ablative was born the illegitimate daughter of a Roman King, and from childhood, she knew her birth status too well. Never will she sit on a throne, unless she married a royal. Never would be she the city's princess. At parties, her father cracks jokes about her, and in literature, she is often reminded of how illegitimate children often turn to villains - how they are bitter and seek to remove power from the legitimate child. The World of Ever After is one that is often driven by birthright - right to hold a destiny, right to hold a political position, and the right to exist as a human without judgement. Because the world has made her feel ashamed of her existence, Ablative is personally driven by pride in everything she does. She calls it pride. Perhaps you might call it arrogance. Perhaps you could call it ego, too, and if it were ego, then it would be both large and fragile. When her abilities are questioned, and when she falters and makes a mistake, Ablative is back to feeling ashamed and unbecoming. If she does something, if there's something that's a part of her, she wants to feel prideful about it. Such things are, and not limited to, herself, her nation and kingdom, and currently, pride for her new destiny. She aims to put this image of herself out there: as a warrior, a soldier and a leader, and claims that her goal is always self-improvement and "besting absolutely everyone and more". "I need a mens sana in corpore sano! Gotta best these other princes in both brains and brawn" is something she might say. No surprise to anyone, then, that when Ablative got her destiny, she took pride in that too. Adaptable is a trait that I mentioned above to describe Ablative, and I'll mention it again. Given her status, Ablative knows that a lot of opportunities are built on luck, and that it is on her to change the path of her own destiny, to "seize the day" and control her own life, if you would. The world is gifted to those to take action and fight, rather than those who make pretty speeches and put on pleasantries. For this reason, Ablative believes that gallantry and chivalry, though nice on the surface, aren't substantial in the long run. Upon learning that she was meant to fight knights, this belief is becoming more extreme. Still... being prince is more than just fighting. It's also being smooth and romantic and getting people to fawn over you. Ever since Ablative realised that having nice biceps + good grades + athletic prowess + this weird unbeatable confidence is something that is very attractive to several nice and eligible bachelors and bachelorettes, and hey, that's one way of getting a throne if you're illegitimate, Ablative seemingly can't stop and won't stop putting up this "image" of herself. The attention is very nice, she's a huge fan of it, and lives off others telling her that she has value. And having spent her whole life mentally prepping herself to do better and be better, Ablative is actually rather fond of giving speeches, and being well-spoken, regards herself as brilliant as pep-talks. If you want someone to rile up some minor princes, here's your Roman Emperor. Below the surface, Ablative sometimes secretly wishes that she didn't have to try so hard or put so much effort into "proving" that she "deserves" her social standing. She's overcompensating, she knows that. But she doesn't want to take a break. If she takes a break, then the others win. Appearance Ablative has tanned skin, long brown hair, and green eyes. Her body shape is toned, and her biceps are well-noted. Often, she has a cocky smirk on her face and is rarely seen not smiley. Her nose is strong and aquiline. When she walks, she is strident. Interests, Hobbies, and Skills Playing at Princehood Since childhood, Ablative Charming was charmed by tales of princes. Of knights, of dragons, of dying for princesses and decimating armies. She was never too fond of traditional fairytales and didn't like the idea of princes getting kidnapped, and the day being saved by kindness rather than tactics. No, she was all for epics and dramas and legends. Listening to bards, reading poetry... she would envision herself as a king or a knight, commanding armies at her own will. From this, she started practising the art of swordfighting on servants' kids, and her parents, noticing this, sent her off to be properly educated as a prince. Ablative Charming, without a doubt, is obsessed with the idea of being a hero. Not so she can help people or rescue maidens or whatever, but for the prestige and renown, for people to sing her name and graces. Because of this, she has embued a lot of the toxic masculinity that surrounds other princes. Poetry Her favourite medium ever, hands down. Ablative thinks poetry is great, and likes to write her own, too. Her favourite genre is lengthy epics, but she does have a fondness for other genres, including love poetry, somewhere. When it comes to her personal compositions, she's inspired by pretty much everything, but focuses it on what she values most - her own achievements. Military Tactics If princehood is a game, then playing as a king who commands armies must be the final boss. Naturally, Ablative loves learning historical military tactics and coming up with some of her own. She's actually really into board games, especially when they involve rolling dice. Her favourite video game is Crusader Kings II, to no one's surprise. Other *Her preferred swords are obviously either the gladius or the spatha. She has fantastic technique, though that can get overridden by her enthusiasm. *She's recently trying to get into hexonomics, since Emperor Lucius' role calls for a concern regarding tribute and taxes. It's actually pretty stressful; she doesn't like it much. Legend: The Arthurian Romance Tradition How It Goes "I don't know how well known the story of Emperor Lucius is, but it goes a little like this: Britian flourishes under King Arthur, and Rome, greedy for more wealth, demands tax and tributes. Arthur refuses, and goes to war. Lucius loses, he dies, and the might of King Arthur grows." - Ablative Charming summing up her role in her diary. How Ablative comes into this Ablative Charming started out as most princesses do, born as the daughter of a King. She was born proudly Roman, like her father... and illegitimate, as the daughter of his mistress. Although she was adopted into the royal family, Ablative had no inheritance of her own - no throne, no power, and was hexpected to carve out her own path. That path later turned out to be princehood. Although born a princess, and still a princess, Ablative grew raptured by tales of prestige and power, of knights and kings. She snuck out of the castle to listen to bards recite the grandest of epics, and got the servants to spar with her. This behaviour did not shock the King, or his Queen. Ablative was a bastard princess, so any "weirdness" or "deviation from the norm" did not come off as upsetting. What was upsetting, however, was that Ablative, in her childhood, frankly sucked at playing hero. So, at the risk of losing face, the King set Ablative out on the path of being a proper prince. She was to be enrolled in princely courses, and to learn how to spar and swordfight with some skill. She would be properly educated, and taken out of any maiden-ly pursuits, to refine her ability. Still, Ablative Charming knew one thing. Although she took all the princely classes, although she landed herself unhexpectantly at Ever After High alongside her half-sister, Ablative knew she would never be the hero or protagonist she dreamed she would be. She had assumed that she would be a discarded prince, a failed suitor, or even, at worst, a bitter villain. Raven Queen went before her on Legacy Day, so Ablative never found out her destiny for a while. Lost in ignorance, Ablative let her anxiety and egoism fester until her curiosity could no longer stand it, so she wrote a letter requesting to see her page in the Storybook. Her fears was right. Ablative was destined to be a villain, Emperor Lucius of Rome, in the Arthurian Legends. Opinion on Destiny Ablative is a Roybel. For Ablative, her destiny was an honour. Being Emperor of Rome, fighting against so many influential and eminent knights was something she couldn't have dreamed of. At the same time, she plays a villain, one who loses and dies. And Ablative, so sick of being villainised in her own life for being a bastard, is sick of that. After a talk with Professor Knight, Ablative realised that the nuances of Arthurian Legend worked in her favour. She mightn't necessarily be a villain, but a hero from another perspective. Or someone equally as bad and corrupt as the Round Table Knights, just with the narrative painting them as opposition. Either way, Ablative is earnest on being as true to herself as possible, and being her own definition of a Roman hero. She has no Happily Ever After given to her on a platter, so might as well start working now. Parallels As Emperor Lucius: *She's Roman. She's the daughter of a King. Ablative could very well become Emperor of Rome... or a Procurator of Rome. *To some degree, cares a lot about money matters. As Emperor Lucius, she's meant to attempt to tax Arthur's empire. *Tactical and warlike - exactly what a Lucius should be. *Gives pretty speeches. Emperor Lucius has a really great one in Monmouth's, but point is, she has skills. *Lots of references to Caesar in her character. Emperor Lucius makes reference to Caesar's brief control of Britain, as evidence for why Arthur should pay him tributes. Regarding the trope of Prince Charming: *Ablative is a quintessional Prince Charming. She's dashing, bold, cocky and falls in superficial love easily, and is always seen with a sword-in-hand. Despite being assigned female, a girl, and a princess by title, Ablative is first and foremost a prince in role. Regarding her name: *Right, so Ablative and Absolute are based off the ablative absolute. **This is a Latin grammatical construct. Julius Caesar was notoriously fond of it, and it makes its way into his writing frequently. Due to this, Ablative and Absolute are inspired by different elements of Julius Caesar, and also, their own particular word in the phrase. *Ablative is based off the militant nature of Julius Caesar. *In Latin, the ablative case serves many purposes - for this reason, Ablative is an adaptable all-rounder. *”Ablative” is derived from the Latin verb auferre "to carry away" (from the fourth part of the verb - ablatus). **Ablative is extreme and brash, reckless and irresponsible. In other words, she is a Prince Charming who is easily carried away. Regarding Julius Caesar (aka, I don't think this list will ever encompass every single ref I make): *He's an arrogant jackass. The Ablative Absolute are both arrogant jackarses. *She is born on the Ides of March - the day of Caesar's death. *They claim descent from the first King by Latium (Iulus), and therefore descent from Aeneas and by extension Aphrodite/Venus. **Literally, they act like they've got godly blood in them. Anyway, the point is, Julius Caesar did the same thing. *Caesar was a general, Ablative is warlike and militant and born to fight. *The like of poetry is a reference to how Caesar got kidnapped by pirates and forced them to listen to him read aloud his poetry. *Everything I write about the AA Charmings is a Caesar reference so I'll stop explaining all of them. **If you can list out and explain all the Ancient Rome + Caesar refs in Ablative's bio, I will actually draw or write you something. This is a serious offer. Quotes Trivia *'Ablative' and Absolute Charming are based off the “''ablative'' absolute”, the Latin grammatical construct. **'Tiberia' is directly taken from the nomen of Lucius Tiberius, the destiny she's meant to inherit. **'Dulce', her cognomen, parallels Absolute's cognomen. Together, it is a nod to Ovid's famous quote dulce et decorum est pro patria mori, "it is sweet and noble to die for your country". Both "Dulce" (sweet) and "Decorum" (noble) can be easily translated as "Charming", and both Ablative Absolutes are meant to die for their story. **For more information about their names, and how that relates to their respective characters, visit the “Fairytale Trope” section of their pages. *The relationship between the half-siblings is partially inspired by another Shakespeare play - King Lear. **Ablative is the Edmund and Absolute is the Edgar. *Her key for the Storybook of Legends resembles a Roman Emperor's Vexillum, with an eagle standard and SPQR flag. Category:Characters Category:Females Category:Zena's OCs Category:Bisexual Category:Roybels Category:Italian Category:Arthurian Legend